Last week, McDonald’s launched the latest version of its Famous Orders ad campaign, featuring the global K-pop sensation BTS. According to Nation’s Restaurant News, this is the first time McDonald’s has introduced a Famous Order globally.

About the campaign

Though the BTS meal includes some fairly standard items like a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets and a medium order of French fries, it also features a new sweet chili sauce and a Cajun sauce inspired by McDonald’s South Korea. In addition to the celebrity meal collaboration, McDonald’s has also launched a line of BTS-inspired merchandise, featuring t-shirts, socks, flip-flops and more. Some items even display a box of 7 fries – one for each member of the group!

Source: AdWeek

McDonald’s also released a video advertisement with the band on the same day as the launch, featuring their new song “Butter.”

A global influence

While McDonald’s has highlighted other celebrities with Famous Orders in the past, the BTS campaign takes things to a whole new level. According to The Drum, “the K-pop superstars are one of South Korea’s biggest exports, bringing $4.65bn to its economy last year while accounting for 70% of the country’s annual tourists.” BTS boasts an impressive fanbase of over 35 million TikTok followers and 43 million Instagram followers. Between 2013 and 2020, the band was mentioned over 2.39 billion times across social media platforms – that’s nearly 25 million mentions per month!

McDonald’s collaboration with the band aims to capitalize off this popularity and reach in an unprecedented way – and if BTS’s track record is any indicator, its prospects are bright.